Over the years the process of buying an engagement ring has innovated. One of the main changes is that you can completely create your own ring reflecting your style and budget. To make it simple we’ve cut the process down into three steps.

Choose your setting

The first step is to choose the style of ring setting you want. The most common three are: Solitaire – where the diamond is individually set on a gold or platinum band Diamond Shoulder Set – like a solitaire but with small diamonds set on the shoulders Three Stone Ring – Three diamonds set in a row with the middle stone normally bigger. The three stones represent the past, present and future of a relationship. As well as the style for the ring setting, you also need to select the metal. For engagement rings the most popular choices are platinum or white gold. Yellow and rose gold are often used and sometimes mixed with white gold to create a bespoke design engagement ring.

Pick A Diamond

Once you have the setting you want, the next step is to pick a diamond or diamonds depending on the setting. When you pick a diamond your given four options – cut, colour, carat weight and clarity which are the four Cs used to grade a diamonds quality and value. The cut refers to the angles and proportions of the diamond which determines its brilliance. For instance an excellent cut diamond allows maximum light to pass through giving it ultimate brilliance. The colour refers to how white the diamond is. The highest and whitest colour grade is D, and with quality diamonds goes down to J which is near colourless. Lower quality diamonds below J will show tints of yellow. The Carat weight is basically how much the diamond weights. A one carat diamond is equal to 200 milligrams. Carat weight is further divided into points. A one carat diamond is divided into 100 points making 1 point 0.01 carats, so 0.50 points is half a carat. The clarity of a diamond is graded by the amount of inclusions or marks on the stone, which are usually only visible through magnification. If the diamond is graded IF it’s internally flawless. The diamonds we sell have clarity grades starting at IF to SI1 – where the diamond is slightly included. When you select a diamond it’s important that you it comes with a certificate from a independent diamond grading lab. This is so the diamond is graded and valued correctly. We only recommend diamonds that come with a GIA certificate.

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